Three men may soon return home to Central America after being held for more than eight months in state prison without a single state charge leveled against them.

On Thursday, state Judge William J. Burris in Covington authorized the release of the men, illegal immigrants who have been held in the St. Tammany Parish jail as material witnesses to their friend's murder near Slidell.

Last Friday, the judge ordered that three of the men's friends, also illegal immigrants, be released from the state's material witness hold and turned over to federal officials for deportation.

The St. Tammany district attorney's office has maintained that it was necessary to hold them under their custody because otherwise they would have been deported by federal authorities before they could testify at the murder trial.

Jose Roberto Romero Echegoyen, 38, of El Salvador; and Santos Medardo Valle Meza, 37, and Luis Fernando Martinez Avila, 24, both of Honduras, just wanted to be free, even if that meant being deported back home. Despite the hardships of jail, the men worried the most about not being able to support their families back home, according to Warren Montgomery, the attorney recently assigned to represent them.

Jose Roberto Romero Echegoyen

Santos Medardo Valle-Meza

Luis Fernando Martinez-Avila

Last Friday Burris allowed the witnesses' testimony to be videotaped and transcribed so that they did not have to remain in jail until the actual trial date, which could take years to come to trial depending on continuances.

Three of the six men were not even called to the stand on Friday to testify - Juan Carlos Reyes Gonzalez, 23, and Pedro Antonio Lopez, 32, both of Mexico; and Marco Tulla Varela Maradiaga, 38, of Honduras.

Because it turned out - after eight months behind bars - that they weren't needed afterall, Burris immediately released them from the state's hold. They were picked up by federal authorities on Wednesday.

Romero Echegoyen, Valle Meza and Martinez Avila were called to the stand last Friday and did give testimony describing some details about the April 29 murder of Jose Luis Martinez-Carpio, 36, of El Salvador in the run-down trailer they shared near Slidell.

Montgomery had asked the court wait until Thursday to rule on the last three witnesses' release because he said he was attempting to secure a special visa that would allow them to remain in Louisiana until the actual jury trial.

But by Thursday, Montgomery had not yet secured the visa so he asked the judge to rule. Before the judge ordered them released by the state, the three men spent hours meticulously reviewing the testimony they had given last week with a translator in order to verify its accuracy.

The Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has until Monday - or 48 hours after they are notified of witnesses' release, not including weekends or holidays - to pick them up from state custody. The federal authorities then would deport them to their home countries.

Montgomery said he will continue to work to see if he can obtain visas for the three men who testified so that they can remain in the state and testify "live" during a future jury trial.

(Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch@timespicayune.com or (985) 898-4827.)